The initial reviews of GTV, from reputable magazines and blog sites, have deemed the Revue/GTV as sub-par. I’ve read the following ‘cons’:

- The setup probably takes about 15-20min (you are warned in the beginning). You have to realize what is going on in this initial setup: an initial software/firmware update, screen/resolution adjustments, the IR setup of your AV equipment so that you can control it all from the keyboard/remote, etc. The AV integration setup is similar to that of other Logitech Harmony devices and it’s all done on the TV screen through menus (MFR and model # is all that’s needed).

- I actually believed that it only integrated with Dish Network. I have DirecTV and after entering the model number of my satellite box, GTV was able to change channels, run the guide, menu, etc. Here’s another example of its integration:
‘Judge Judy’ was on CBS and I was watching ABC. I pulled up the search box and typed in ‘judge judy’. Several result options were displayed and the first one was ‘judge judy - now playing - WBBM’. After choosing this result, the channel was instantly changed to CBS.

- GTV is far easier to operate than any previous solution that I’ve used. It was never meant to replace your television provider. I read in Maximum PC: ‘If you wish to navigate directly to a website, you must type the URL into a search box and then pick out the link from the results’. This is false. Maybe this was an issue resolved in the latest update... The only issue that I have so far is the inability of switching the content of the PIP window.

The best part about GTV is that it overlays the current display on your TV. This just isn’t possible with other solutions. Whenever you wanted to use your HTPC, you’d have to switch video inputs on your TV; ugh, what a hassle. Another notable feature is that it seems to 'pause' the Flash player when you switch between web content and TV!

I think the GTV is excellent as it is and it’ll only get better with updates. I believe the networks that are currently blocking GTV (ABC, CBS, NBC, Hulu, etc. - via Adobe Flash signature/version) will smarten up and unblock in the near future. Why would they not want more content viewers? More people to sell ads to?
Currently at $250, you aren’t going to put together an HTPC with the same features and level of integration!

Gmail allows you to retrieve the email from other email accounts via POP3 (just as many desktop email clients do). The nice thing about it is that it will also filter email from that account and mark suspected SPAM as such.

This feature is found in:
Gmail -> Settings -> Accounts and Import (tab) -> Check mail using POP3

I set mine up to delete mail from Hotmail's server upon retrieval to prevent email clog up. Also be sure to tag your Hotmail, so it doesn't get mixed in with the important stuff. You may still need to log into Hotmail occasionally to prevent them from shutting down your account. I've thought about setting up another Gmail account to replace my beloved Microsoft email acct. but...

We've all seen this show before. The tricky part is finding your way back to XAMPP (Apache) from IE Tester while maintaining a consistent base URL. This isn't important when running a few static websites, but many frameworks have this value stored in its database. When you view your site using a different URL, links to static files (CSS, images, etc.) and other pages become broken. In a few easy steps I'm going to show you one method to resolve this issue.

Go ahead and install the above applications and OSes if you haven't already. Use the default network mode of "NAT" for VirtualBox. I'm going to assume that you can access your local sites (from your Mac) using - http://localhost/sitename/

- Step 1: Boot up your Windows install and use ipconfig (Run -> cmd -> ipconfig) to get your gateway IP. It was 10.0.0.2 for me.

- Step 2: Add the following lines to both system's (Mac and virtual Windows install) hosts files (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hosts_file). 'localhost.com' can be replaced with a URL of your choice.

# Mac:
localhost.com 127.0.0.1

# Windows:
localhost.com 10.0.0.2

- Step 3: Be sure that all of your web frameworks (Wordpress, Magento, etc.) are aware of your new base URL 'localhost.com' (or whatever you chose in step 2).

- Step 4: Access one of your sites from each of your operating system's browser using - http://localhost.com/sitename/

Download: jquery.content_expirator-0.1.0.js

Let's say your client has given you a flyer to put on their website for an event.

<img src="easter_flyer_2010.jpg" class="aligncenter" alt="Easter Flyer" />

After Easter is over, you're going to want to take this flyer off of their site. Instead of manually editing the site on the Monday after Easter to take it down, you can give it an expiration date so that it isn't displayed after Easter.

<img src="easter_flyer_2010.jpg" class="exp-2010-04-04 aligncenter" alt="Easter Flyer" />

The Content Expirator looks for an element containing a class name (must be the first one listed) containing the prefix 'exp'. When it comes across one, it compares the date (formatted year-month-day) with the current day to decide if the element's 'display' (style) parameter should be set to 'none'.

Calling The Function:

default:

$(document).ready(function(){
    jQuery.contentExpirator();
});
// looks for -> 'exp-year-month-day'

custom prefix:

$(document).ready(function(){
    jQuery.contentExpirator('end');
});
// looks for -> 'end-year-month-day'

(special thanks to: Donatas v0.2.0 (http://happycode.info)

The following script provides an easy way to perform unbiased rounding, convergent rounding, statistician's rounding, Dutch rounding, Gaussian rounding, or bankers' rounding using Javascript.

Examples

var numToRound = 10.005;
numToRound.rhte(0.01);
result: 10.00

var numToRound = 10.0015;
numToRound.rhte(0.001);
result: 10.002

var numToRound = 10.00500000001;
numToRound.rhte(0.01);
result: 10.01

var numToRound = 1005001;
numToRound.rhte(10000);
result: 1010000
 

Here I've modified the Recent Posts widget (file: /wp-includes/default-widgets.php) so that it'll work with this plugin.

Insert the following code after line #545 ($r = new WP_Query(array('showposts' =>...)(WP ver-2.8)

$r->set('orderby', 'menu_order');
$r->set('order', 'ASC');
$r->get_posts();

- A plugin that adds class functionality to jQuery: jQuery-Klass

Pete Tong:
rtsp://rmv8.bbc.net.uk:554/radio1coyopa/radio_1_-_friday_1900.ra

Fabio and Grooverider:
rtsp://rmv8.bbc.net.uk:554/radio1coyopa/radio_1_-_sunday_0100.ra

In need of a JavaScript function that would parse an ISO8601 compliant date, I came across an attempt (http://delete.me.uk/2005/03/iso8601.html) and rewrote it (because I'm all about reinventing the wheel). My function extends the Date object and allows you to pass in an ISO8601 date (2008-11-01T20:39:57.78-06:00). The function will then return the Date. In the date string argument the dashes and colons are optional. The decimal point for milliseconds is mandatory (although specifying milliseconds isn't). If a timezone offset is specified, the '+' or '-' sign must be included. This function should also work with iCalendar(RFC2445) formatted dates. If a the date string doesn't match the format, there will be a final attempt to parse it with the built in Date.parse() method.

Code:

Date.prototype.setISO8601 = function(dString){

var regexp = /(\d\d\d\d)(-)?(\d\d)(-)?(\d\d)(T)?(\d\d)(:)?(\d\d)(:)?(\d\d)(\.\d+)?(Z|([+-])(\d\d)(:)?(\d\d))/;

if (dString.toString().match(new RegExp(regexp))) {
var d = dString.match(new RegExp(regexp));
var offset = 0;

this.setUTCDate(1);
this.setUTCFullYear(parseInt(d[1],10));
this.setUTCMonth(parseInt(d[3],10) - 1);
this.setUTCDate(parseInt(d[5],10));
this.setUTCHours(parseInt(d[7],10));
this.setUTCMinutes(parseInt(d[9],10));
this.setUTCSeconds(parseInt(d[11],10));
if (d[12])
this.setUTCMilliseconds(parseFloat(d[12]) * 1000);
else
this.setUTCMilliseconds(0);
if (d[13] != 'Z') {
offset = (d[15] * 60) + parseInt(d[17],10);
offset *= ((d[14] == '-') ? -1 : 1);
this.setTime(this.getTime() - offset * 60 * 1000);
}
}
else {
this.setTime(Date.parse(dString));
}
return this;
};

Usage:

var today = new Date();
today.setISO8601('2008-12-19T16:39:57.67Z');

-

v0.3.0 (August 5, 2009)

• Accepts events that span across multiple days
• MooTools v1.2.3 required.

v0.2.2 (April 11, 2009)

• Fixed a rendering problem for people outside of the U.S.
• Added the option for weeks to start on Monday

v0.2.1 (Feb 9, 2009)

• bug fix - usage error with parseInt(). Events wouldn't load on the 8th and 9th of a month.
• HTML allowed in events. This allows for events to link elsewhere.

v0.2.0 (Feb 1, 2009)

• uses plug-ins or direct loading through the constructor for events
• uses iCal/ISO 8601 dates/times for event input
• different style sheets can be used for 3 different sized calendars

v0.1.0 (Oct 3, 2008)

• month, week, and day views
• tool tips for month view events (using Tips)
• scrolling day events for month view (using Scroller)
• events loaded manually or possibly through a JSON feed